This event offers a unique opportunity to familiarize yourself with the work and achievements of Professor Kaveh Madani, the 2026 Stockholm Water Prize Laureate.
The session will be attended by His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf, patron of the Stockholm Water Prize and Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Victoria. The session will feature insightful conversations with the Laureate, alongside other high-level guests, including Professor Tshilidzi Marwala, the Rector of the United Nations University and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ms Jessika Roswall, Commissioner for Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive Circular Economy, Professor Ellen Moons, Secretary General of the Royal Swedish Academy Sciences (RSAS) and Professsor Lars Tranvik, Chair Prize Committee for Stockholm Water Prize, at Royal Swedish Academy Sciences (RSAS).
Professor Kaveh Madani, Director of the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH), has been named the 2026 Stockholm Water Prize Laureate. The announcement was made at the World Water Day ceremony at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris. The prize will be formally presented by H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden during World Water Week in Stockholm in August 2026.
Often described as the ‘Nobel Prize of Water’, the Stockholm Water Prize is the most prestigious water award and honours outstanding contributions to the sustainable use and protection of water resources. Professor Madani’s selection is also a historic milestone for the global water community: at 44, he is the youngest laureate in the prize’s history, as well as the first UN official and the first former politician to receive the honour. The official Stockholm Water Prize citation recognizes Professor Madani for his “unique combination of groundbreaking research on water resources management with policy, diplomacy and global outreach, often under personal risk and political complexity".
To join the session online, please register via the World Water Week platform. Online registration is free of charge: https://worldwaterweek.org/
